


come on skinny love (just last the year)

by chocolatecrack



Category: Hey! Say! JUMP
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M, mentions and appearances by various HSJ members, slight lol, you'll understand why as the story progresses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-17
Updated: 2018-01-17
Packaged: 2019-03-06 05:53:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13404831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chocolatecrack/pseuds/chocolatecrack
Summary: His heart closes and locks itself in its cage, afraid to come out, afraid to be broken again. So Inoo suddenly draws his back, retreats into himself, walls slowly building up. He doesn’t look back when he walks away, failing to see the look on Daiki’s face when he does so.“But,” Daiki says, but Inoo was too far gone to hear him.“I like you.”





	come on skinny love (just last the year)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [noxnoctis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/noxnoctis/gifts).



> Dear recipient-san:
> 
> You literally ship all three otps that I also ship. LET ME LOVE YOU.
> 
> Okay that aside: I hope you enjoy a nice little café/University (sort of) AU that I kinda also mixed in with a bit of magic realism at the end. I'm so sorry if this is all over the place, but I tried to make it as lovely as possible I hope you still enjoy reading it!! I know the summary kind of makes it look sad and angst-y, but it's not as, I swear!! :D
> 
> Love lots,  
> Your author :)
> 
> P.S. Do forgive me if I missed out a few spelling/grammar mistakes!  
> P.P.S. Soulmate AU is based on the fact that when you ask people what you look like, they basically describe their ideal person. And you know it's your soulmate when they describe you perfectly, without seeing anything else except what you really look like.

Skinny Love  
when two people love each other, but are too shy to admit it (yet they still show it)

* * *

 

 

Espresso  
_Come on, skinny love, just last the year_

The hot afternoon sun seeps through the windows giving the small and dainty café a warm glow. Inoo is working on the counter that day, first half of his shift about to come to a close when he notices something. Again, actually. A young man. He’s been at the café for quite some time already, Inoo noticing him the moment he came in. But now he’s been at his seat for a total of two hours—not that Inoo’s counting—and he’s still so fixated on something.

He slams his head on table, groans out loud for the nth time, Inoo notices. The young man, about his age he thinks, seems frustrated with some sort of sentence that he keeps repeating over and over. Inoo smiles, amused. He whips up a drink while he glances at the clock situated near the door, hands working on muscle memory to make a beverage he's done tons of times in his whole University life. When the clock's hand moves, signaling his break, he informs Yabu through nod, and the older boy already understood what it meant.

Before distancing himself from the counter, he makes himself a drink: similar to the one already in his hands. When he's done, he approaches the table, as the amusing young man groans yet again.

“Hey,” his voice starts, and the young man looks up at him with surprised wondering eyes, “Thought you might need this.”

Inoo's delicate hand places the coffee cup carefully on the table, right next to an empty one he guesses the young man had already consumed. He then places his own cup next to it, “Can I join you?” and sits down when the young man nods a yes.

“Inoo,” he sticks his hand out, introducing himself, “Inoo Kei actually. But people call me Inoo.”

The young man takes his hand, “Oh u-uh, Daiki,” he—Daiki, apparently—clears his throat. “Arioka Daiki,” he says in a voice that Inoo wasn't expecting to be as enthusiastic. Like it was full of sunflowers and sunshine. “Thank you for this,” Daiki gestures to the cup, moving it closer to him, "How much do I—?”

“I get two free drinks a day,” Inoo places his chin on his palms, elbows on top of the table, leaning closer to Daiki, “Lucky for you today, you get one of them.”

“Oh but—“ Daiki seemed flustered. Inoo thinks it's the cutest thing.

“Does it taste good?”

“Oh, uhm,” Daiki immediately reaches for the coffee cup, hurriedly gets a taste before realizing it was freshly brewed and scorching hot. He makes quite the loud sound as a reaction, although the people inside the café didn't mind him that much, too busy with their own activities. Inoo laughs a little, sees Daiki struggle with the heat.

“You okay?” he asks.

“Yea—shit that was hot, _fuck_ —but uh, yea,” Daiki sticks his tongue out, Inoo noticing it being a specific shade of pink, “It was good though uhm, thanks,” he struggles to speak, “You make good coffee.”

The words are distorted from him having his tongue out, but Inoo understands anyway, “It's just an espresso. Nothing hard about that,” he shrugs. Then he smiles again, and Daiki's cheeks redden a little, but Inoo pays no mind to it.

“Uh,” the younger man scratches the back of his head, “What's it for by the way? I mean, I don't remember ordering a—”

“What course are you in?”

“Oh uh,” Daiki assembles his notes, “Mass communication, but I'm a double major in Food Technology.”

“Interesting. So do you plan on being a food reporter?”

“Sort of like that, yea,”

Inoo nods, and Daiki feels a bit awkward from how his pretty eyes keep looking at him, so he decides to break the ice, “How about you?”

“Architecture,”

"Oh, that's cool!" Daiki has this huge, glowing, genuine smile on his face and Inoo thinks his heart likes that view.

“You're quite loud aren't you?” Inoo chuckles, and Daiki blushes in embarassment.

“S-sorry, I—”

“I like it,”

“Oh, uhm—”

“So what are you working on?” Inoo reaches for the papers scattered on the table, sees a few diagrams and paragraphs.

Daiki blinks twice, having a hard time keeping up with the older boy’s pace. But Inoo just looks at him, raises his eyebrows and smiles, so he shakes his head and focuses, “Uh, some project we have to work on before the summer starts. The deadline is next week, the first thing, so we have to get it done by this week. And I can't connect one thing to another, and everything sucks, and I'm giving up,” he drops his head, planting his face in his notes, hoping to find a way to fix his mess.

Inoo takes a sip of his coffee, hands reaching for the sheets of paper that weren't buried under Daiki's face, tries to figure out the notes.

“Doesn't this part fit in with this though?” he says, takes another sip, “This would give a much better explanation if you direct this source with your conclusion. And then you continue the paragraph?”

Daiki stays quiet for a while, and Inoo considers poking him to see if he was still alive. Just as he was about to, Daiki suddenly sits up, grabs the papers in his hands and reads through them again.

“Holy shit,” he reacts, "I've been trying to figure that out for two hours—”

“I noticed. All the way from the counter,”

“—and you figured it out in two seconds,”

Inoo just smiles.

"I owe you," Daiki is dumbfounded by the paper in his hands, but he lifts his eyes to meet Inoo's anyway, "Big time."

Inoo laughs, "No, you don't," he takes another sip of his coffee and Daiki just now notices how beautiful his hands and fingers are, “Unless that includes you keeping me company for the rest of the summer. From my judgment, you seem fun to be with.”

Daiki's heart might've skipped a beat, probably from how forward Inoo was, but for now he isn't sure of that yet, "U-uhm," he clears his throat, "But we don't, uh," he hesitates again, "We hardly know each other though?"

Although he does admit that he kinda, sorta, maybe wants to get to know this Inoo person. He seems, well…'interesting' would be an understatement.

Inoo leans forward, seemingly unaffected by the initial refusal, "And what best time to get to know each other. Don’t you think so?" he says in a sweet yet mysterious voice and Daiki's intrigued.

He lets his mouth get ahead of his thoughts, like he always does, "I-I'll be staying at the dorms the whole summer anyway," the words come out before he realizes he's even forming them, so what the hell. Go big or go home. "So uh yea I mean why not, right?"

"Mmm," Inoo smiles again, leaning his chin on his palm, utterly amused by this newfound stranger. "That'd be great."

Daiki chuckles nervously, scratches the back of his head again. For some reason, this Inoo person makes his heart do somersaults and he doesn’t understand why that was happening and it’s confusing him already. But Inoo’s taking another sip of his coffee, all the while keeping his pretty eyes on Daiki, and Daiki feels like he’s going to melt on his spot.

“So, I—” he starts to speak again, but Inoo puts down his cup, stares at him some more, and all the words leave his mind, a blank slate, shut down, swoop of emptiness. He casts his eyes down at his own cup, the beverage slowly but surely cooling, and it reminds him of a certain hue. Rich, raw, full. Flavor meant to be an unforgettable memory.

Inoo.

Inoo Kei.

The name repeats itself in his head.

After a whole afternoon of small talk, and Inoo staring more at him, Daiki visits the café again a week later, when all projects were submitted, and stress has been relieved. The poignant aroma of espresso greets him the moment he takes his seat, Inoo Kei already waiting for him with a warm smile and eyes of the same hue.

“So,” the older boy takes the seat across from him again, leans forward, “Summer.”

Daiki smiles back, getting the feeling that something was about to happen. Although he wasn’t exactly sure what. “Yea,” he takes a sip of his coffee, perfectly brewed, rich, raw, full of flavor. “Summer.”

And when Daiki exits the store that day, he notices a phone number scribbled down on his cup, in Inoo’s equally as pretty handwriting.

* * *

 

Coconut Strawberry Bliss Frappuccino  
_And I told you to be patient  
And I told you to be fine_

“Dai-chaaaaaaan,”

The bells on the café door signal Daiki’s entrance, the boy walking across the area, whipping his head towards the familiar voice. He makes a beeline for the counter where he knew his friend was working, wide smile on his face. “Inoo-chan!” his voice resonates through the atmosphere, and if they—both employees and customers—weren’t so used to his volume already, they would’ve been irritated.

“It’s too hot outside,” Daiki says, making a grab for his collar to hopefully let some air in.

He had become somewhat of a regular at the café, having spent the first two weeks of the summer with Inoo, every single day, at the same spot with a different coffee cup served. Inoo had been spending all his shift breaks with him, the both of them getting to know each other in a natural fashion, initial awkwardness long forgotten after that first meeting. And the more they get to know each other, the more Inoo feels like there was something about this boy that has his in a pull. Like he can’t help himself around him. It was thrilling.

“Good thing I work in café with full blown air conditioning, then,” Inoo leans on the counter, “I’m so bored,” he pouts, momentarily stopping from making drinks and successfully blocking the way, Yuto almost hitting his hip when he rushes towards the blenders. The younger boy was thankful he had been careful, “Aren’t you bored? I’m so bored,” Inoo pouts some more.

“Oi Inoo!” Takaki reacts from the cash register, having seen the almost incident, “We have pending drinks, you know??”

Inoo sighs, “Okaaaaaay,” he slurs, Daiki laughing a little at the way Inoo drags his lazy feet across the space to make the next drink. The moment his hands start on it though, it’s like they were moving to their own accord, crafting a drink not only delicious looking, but also very pretty. The older boy calls out the beverage and the name written on the cup, and Daiki observes from the sidelines as the customer claims their order.

Inoo goes back to pouting and talking to him, “That’s the tenth Mocha Frappuccino I’ve made today,” he says, “You’d think these people would be more creative with their orders,” he nods in Yabu’s direction, works on two drinks for him and Daiki to consume while he takes his afternoon break. Daiki watches him in wonder as he grabs a bunch of strawberries and whips up a coconut cream-based concoction, with the red fruit tainting the white beverage, making it slightly turn into a light shade of pink. Inoo moves from behind the counter towards their usual spot, sets the two beverages down on the table and hurriedly sips on his before Daiki even has the chance to sit.

“See, _this_ ,” he points to their drinks, “ _This_ is a creative drink.”

Daiki sips on his own the moment he takes his seat, and the strawberry-coconut flavor greets his taste buds with a lovely hello. Just the right amount of sweet. Not too saccharine, “It definitely tastes creative. I like what you did with the coconut cream-base, it doesn’t over saturate the strawberry.”

“And they can’t even think of ordering such a pretty drink!”

Daiki laughs at Inoo’s outburst, amused, “Maybe they’re too lazy to think of variety?”

Inoo scoffs, “It’s boring.”

“Well—”

“I’m so bored,”

“I think—”

“Entertain me, Dai-chan,”

Daiki almost chokes on his drink.

Inoo just watches on as he struggles for air, knowing he’ll recover soon. “You okay?” he asks with a hint of concern on his voice, but Daiki waves him off and gives him a thumbs up.

“Y-yea,” the younger boy struggles to speak, coughing again, still on the aftershocks of how Inoo said those words so casually, and yet they sounded _so_ different in his own head, “All good.”

“Great,” Inoo sips on his straw, “So about entertaining me.”

“Please don’t say it like that,” Daiki says, but laughs anyway.

“Like what?” Inoo smirks, and really, this boy just _knows_ how caught Daiki was in anything he does. As always. Every single time.

“Like…well,” _Like it means something different_ was what he wanted to say, but he sees Inoo already consuming the drink again and sentences like that shouldn’t be mentioned at conversations like these with people who you don’t understand how they make you feel yet. Yea. That’s it.

“Like—”

Inoo just shrugs, already changing the topic, “How was your day so far?” he gives Daiki that warm smile. The kind that makes him feel funny. Like there was something fluttering inside his stomach or whatever. Butterflies, maybe. He wasn’t sure.

But Daiki is quick to respond to the question, head on diving into the details of his morning, and how he woke up in his dorm room feeling like the air conditioning is never cold enough. And he tells Inoo of him meeting up with Chinen to catch up, complete with all the gestures involved. There was this glow in his eyes, Inoo notices, every time he recalls something and reenacts it in a way, and it has such a pull on Inoo’s heart. Like he was slowly drowning in the way Arioka Daiki can literally light up a whole room just by being _him_.

Then Daiki laughs. A sweet sound. Not too saccharine. Just the right amount. Like coconut mixed with strawberry on a hot summer day. Paired with a smile that can beat the sun in brightness, and _goddamn_ , Inoo’s heart skips a beat.

“You’re kind of amazing, you know that?” he says not a heartbeat later, and Daiki stops what he’s saying to stare.

“I’m…” he furrows his eyebrows, not sure if he heard it right, “W-What?”

Inoo just shakes his head, already missing the way Daiki’s voice would pitch up when he’s excited, “Nothing. Go on, I like hearing your stories.”

Daiki shrugs off the statement, thinking maybe he _did_ hear wrong. And maybe it was just his stupid thoughts messing with him, and his feelings, and his heart. So he continues talking, tells Inoo of how he met up with Yamada too and tells him about the café. Inoo slowly learns more of Daiki’s friends, and Daiki’s personality, and _Daiki_.

But he ignores the nagging feeling in his chest. The right amount of sweet. Not too saccharine. It feels like Daiki’s laugh. Daiki’s smile. His eyes, his presence, _him._ Inoo slurps on his drink again, until the straw makes a sound when the cup turns empty, and Inoo thinks that may be it. He’s consumed. Consumed, consumed, _so consumed._

There’s that smile again.

_So consumed._

By Arioka Daiki.

* * *

 

S’mores Frappuccino  
_Come on, skinny love, what happened here_

Summer days consisted of Daiki making Inoo’s day brighter, better than the summer sun can. On weekends, there were park dates, under the warm rays of the sun above, a summer breeze flowing while Daiki laughs at something Inoo said, something he can’t even remember now.

“He’s got a thing for Yabu I think?”

“Hmm?” Daiki faces contorts into a thinking expression, and Inoo thinks it’s one of the most adorable things he’s ever seen. “Is this that guy who always jokes around, but when Yabu talks to him, he gets all flustered?” the younger boy eats a spoonful of his shaved ice treat, slowly turning his tongue into a bright orange hue. Which is only fitting, Inoo thinks, as his own tongue turns dark blue from the blueberry flavor.

“Yea, that one,” he smiles, and they converse more about how Inoo kind of wants to play matchmaker for them, but he’s going to have to wait and see first.

On weekdays, there were afternoon café breaks, Inoo whipping up drink after drink, never asking Daiki to pay for one even though he insists to. And Daiki tells him about his day, like how he told Yamada to visit the café one time. After a few times on convincing, Yamada finally managed to go, and the moment he got back, he went on and on about this tall, _really_ attractive guy he saw there. And how the guy maybe flirted with him too, because he was engaging in conversation, and he might’ve swooned but it’s not like he’s going to tell anyone else that.

“And you’re telling me because…?” Inoo asks, laughing.

“Meh, he’s not going to know I told you anyway,” Daiki shrugs.

“It’s Yuto, isn’t it?” Inoo laughs some more.

“How’d you know?” Daiki genuinely looked surprised.

“It’s _always_ Yuto, Dai-chan,” Inoo says. But it wasn’t in the bitter way, it’s more like, he understands why. It _is_ Yuto, after all. “And he flirted with him too? Looks like our boy’s interested.”

“Yuto’s interested? How can you tell?”

“Yuto flirts with every single customer,” Inoo points to the counter, where Yuto was smiling a certain way to some girl, obviously trying to woo her. Daiki nods, “But he usually stops at one sentence or two. Maybe three. Actually engaging in conversation? That’s _new_ ,” Inoo has this mischievous glint in his eyes. The kind that says he might do something with this newfound information. Daiki mentally wishes Yamada a good luck.

On another, particularly hot day, Inoo fixes Daiki a Frappuccino, with a marshmallow flavor, mixed in with chocolate and graham crumbs, and Daiki is reminded of a bonfire on an evening by a lake, the serene water lulling him to relaxation.

“S’mores?” he asks, looking at the contents of his drink.

Inoo shrugs, sips on his straw, “Wanted something sweet today.”

“Right,”

“Besides you, of course,”

Daiki blushes, “But I’m not—”

“Have you ever made s’mores, Dai-chan?”

“Oh, uh yea. I did once when my family and I went on a summer trip. We wanted to try Western style camping, and s’mores was one of the suggested campfire food,”

“Hmm,” Inoo looked somewhat mellow, and Daiki wasn’t sure why, but he feels like that’s not a good sign, “I used to make some all the time when I was bored.”

“Oh? Why’d you stop?”

The older boy just shrugs, “I got bored of it too, I guess?”

Daiki takes a sip of his drink, the marshmallow taste leaving quite the mark on his tongue, “So why the s’mores drink now?”

Inoo sips his own drink again, and there was a different hue in his eyes that Daiki has never seen before—at least in the past few days—and he wasn’t sure what that meant.

“Like I said,” Inoo looks at him, “I wanted something sweet.”

There was an underlying emotion to the way he said the words. A hint of sadness clouding the sentence. Daiki wanted to acknowledge it, ask what was wrong, ready to provide comfort. But his hesitation got the best of him—after all, he didn’t want to pry—and the subtle sorrow was left unattended.

“Besides me, you said? Drink tastes great, by the way,” he wanted to at least make the situation a little lighter, providing a smile and a compliment.

Inoo smiles back, and this time it looks genuine. Daiki feels a little better.

“Nothing beats you, Dai-chan,” Inoo says, albeit his tone giving off more meaning than what was just on the surface, “You’re definitely sweeter.”

“Not as much as you, I guess,”

Inoo laughs, stares into Daiki’s eyes. He takes a deep breath, “Few weeks of summer gone,” and he hates the looming feeling of the upcoming end of a season.

“Few weeks of summer _left_ ,” Daiki corrects, optimism shining through, making his smile brighter.

“And you’re _still_ here with me,”

“Because I choose to be,”

Inoo sips on his drink again, realizing he was right.

“See Dai-chan,” he leans closer, “You’re _definitely_ sweeter.”

* * *

 

Hojicha Crème Frappuccino  
_And I told you to be balanced  
And I told you to be kind_

The summer sun hides behind gray skies as autumn embraces Inoo in a mellow greeting. As the days in the café go by, the weather slowly turning itself colder, he watches the leaves transform in color: from the crisps hues that summer brought, full of bright blazing green, to the rich and warm tones of oranges and reds and yellows.

Autumn.

The customers in the café double in numbers, people looking more and more for sources of warmth, which they usually find in the bottom of a coffee cup. But even as Inoo’s hands get fuller, once the afternoon rolls in and he goes on his much needed break: he’s there. With a smile that warms Inoo better than a hot beverage.

“Tea based drink today,” Inoo places the drinks in front of the younger boy, Daiki looking up from tbe screen of his smartphone when he arrives, a smile already on his face, “Also cold. If that’s okay with you?”

“I don’t mind,” he smiles wider, already reaching for his cup. His fingers brush against Inoo’s as he does so, and the older boy doesn’t know why, but he feels s spark run through his veins. Much more than all the other times they’ve touched. Odd.

“Oh, I like this taste!” Daiki says enthusiastically, already taking another sip, “Hojicha has such a strong flavor, doesn’t it? And it complements the sweetness you added too!” he takes a look at the drink, “I like all the colors that come with it too!”

“Yea?” Inoo just observes, knows Daiki was as plain as day when it comes to his reactions. “Oh, you have…”

And it’s so cliché, really.

Step 1: Daiki has something on his face—Inoo guesses it to be whipped cream—and he’s unable to notice.

Step 2: Inoo, however, notices of course. Because he notices _everything_ about Daiki. For some reason. A reason he obviously, always refuses to acknowledge.

Step 3: Daiki reacts with a “Hmm?” in one of the most adorable looking face ever.

Step 4: Inoo smiles at him, waves off his reactions, tell him “Let me,” and reaches his hand out to wipe his face.

Step 5: Somehow, in some sort of soul crushing, hearth-thumping way, time slows down. And Inoo’s able to see _all_ of Daiki. From head to toe, to the whole aspect of his personality, and to everything that comprises him of himself, and _wow_ , he was suddenly overwhelmed.

Step 6: He still wipes at the younger boy’s face anyway. With a soft stroke of his thumb across the whipped cream that graced Daiki’s cheek. And he couldn’t help himself but run finger across the skin. Caress the boy’s cheek with a touch so soft, it made his heart feel like a stupid marshmallow.

Step 7: Daiki reacts. Of course. “I-Inoo-chan?” his voice says softly, slightly nervous, surprised by Inoo’s sudden intimacy, although still calm.

Step 8: Inoo notices Daiki leaning his head towards his palm though: a silent telling that he was comfortable being there. Like it was the most natural thing in the world. Like this whole situation was something that they were meant to be doing. Because they’re Inoo and Daiki.

Step 9: His heart closes and locks itself in its cage, afraid to come out, afraid to be broken again. So Inoo suddenly draws his back, retreats into himself, walls slowly building up. “I’m…” he speaks, voice wavering, “I’m sorry,” he doesn’t exactly know why he was apologizing, but it felt like it was necessary. Which was never a good sign.

Step 10: His heart breaks anyway with the way Daiki was looking at him. Full of confusion and curiousness and an expression he can’t exactly place. Like the younger boy longed for his touch again. Like he was missing his presence.

Step 11: Inoo was afraid.

Step 12: _Stop this, you idiot. Not again._

Step 13: “I—” the wooden chair screeches slightly as the legs graze against the floor, “I have to go. I’m sorry. We have lots of uh, orders to fill and…”  _And I can’t handle this_ anymore. “And I’ll, uhm, see you tomorrow, Dai-chan. Yea? Uh, just,” _Just let me figure myself out first_ , “Enjoy your drink.”

Inoo doesn’t look back when he walks away, failing to see the look on Daiki’s face when he does so.

“But,” Daiki says, but Inoo was too far gone to hear him.

“I like you.”

* * *

 

Pumpkin Spice Latte  
_Cut out all the ropes and let me fall_

“Inoo-chan, Happy Halloween!!” Daiki cheers, his hears gelled up to look like devil horns, noticing Inoo’s was done the same way, only they were cat ears.

“Happy Halloween to you too, Dai-chan!” Inoo goes in for a hug, wraps Daiki in a tight embrace, and he would’ve been shocked if not for the adrenaline coursing through his veins.

“Looks like we wore our hair out the same way,” the older boy points out, hands already working on two lattes for both of them to drink.

They settle at the usual table, sharing laughs and smiles and Inoo tries to scare Daiki with ghost stories, but the younger boy waves him away, covering his ears and drowning out his voice.

“La la la la la la la I’m not listening,” Daiki looks like a 5 year-old kid and Inoo laughs at the image in front of him.

Daiki compliments him on the beverage. Pumpkin spice was an expected autumn drink, at least in the Western part of the world. But Inoo made the drink with a certain distinction to it, putting his own style to the already established recipe, making it seem richer, enhancing the pumpkin and nutty flavor.

In the middle of the conversation, though, Daiki suddenly asks, “Inoo-chan?”

“Mmm?”

“What do I look like to you?”

Daiki remembers how detailed Yamada described Yuto the other day, and Daiki couldn’t understand it because he doesn’t really see Yuto that way. Not that he’s not attractive, it’s just, it just doesn’t click with him. Then he recalls Yamada saying something about only the soul mate knowing what you really looked like, and Yuto smiling at Yamada in a certain way, the kind that was reserved only for him. So Daiki was curious.

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know,” Daiki shrugs, sips on his drink again, the nutty flavor strong and evident, “Do I seem…different to you?”

And maybe he was hopeful and naïve and foolish for believing the whole soul mates business, but there really was no harm in asking after all.

“What’s with you guys lately?” Inoo’s voice suddenly sounds guarded, Daiki wonders why, “Hikaru asked me the same thing the other day, and he was so relieved when I told him he looked plain and boring. Telling me about this and that and Yabu saying something completely different, I don’t know.”

“Did Ryutaro ask you too?”

“Yea, why? Chinen ask the same?”

“No, Yamada did. Well, he didn’t really ask, he just mentioned something about Yuto telling him—”

“Okay, can we stop with this topic now?” Inoo averts his eyes away, and Daiki senses there must be _something_ there. “I’d rather talk about something else.”

“Oh,” maybe he was too hopeful, but at least he tried. “Uhm, okay then.”

Inoo knows what this means. Recalls something from so many moons ago: the same question, a different person, a perfect description.

He refuses to go through that again.

“Your drink okay?”

“Yea,” Daiki answers, but he knows Inoo was anything but, “It’s okay.”

* * *

 

Peppermint Mocha Frappuccino  
_And now all your love was wasted_

“Mmm, peppermint,” Daiki has a satisfied look on his face, sipping in his straw happily, “I’m a big fan of peppermint.”

“As I can see,” Inoo laughs, “Happy Holidays, Dai-chan!”

“Happy Holidays!” and he hands Inoo a gift, the older boy not even waiting for actual Christmas day as he tears the wrapping paper apart and opens the box on the spot.

He’s left in awe when he sees what’s inside: an architecture kit, complete with all the tools needed. The expensive kind too. It must have cost Daiki a fortune.

“Dai-chan, you didn’t have to—”

“I had some money saved. It’s nothing really. I really like your work, Inoo-chan. And I can see the hard work you put into it. I just want you to continue pursuing your passion,” he says softly, and Inoo feels his heart burst from fullness.

“I could kiss you,” Inoo says, wanting it to be comedic, but it ended up sounding so much more than that.

Daiki tries to ignore the sudden weight of the aura, “You _could_. I wonder how I would feel about that.”

Inoo laughs in return. He grabs a box from his end, hands Daiki his own gift: headphones to match his DJ turntable, exactly like the ones he was saving up for.

“No, you are _kidding_ , I WANTED THIS SO BAD,” Inoo thinks he sees literal stars in Daiki’s eyes.

“You’re welcome,”

“You are the _best_ , Inoo-chan!” Daiki embraces him in a sudden hug, and Inoo returns it with just as much feeling.

Daik doesn’t let go of Inoo immediately, holds him close, breathing in his scent.

“I really like your brown hair,”

Inoo furrows his eyebrows, hug on Daiki tightening a fraction, “Hmm?”

“Hikaru says it looks like a mushroom,” he laughs, “I think it’s cute.”

“Oh?”

Wait. Wait. Wait.

“And sometimes you have this blank look on your face,” Daiki laughs again, “But then it turns determined when you make coffee, or draw buildings, and then you smile when you look at me and it’s really beautiful.”

_No, wait, stop._

“And how you can be harsh when joking with others, but I know deep down inside you really care about them,”

 _Enough_.

“And your hands are really pretty .Especially when they play piano, and your face looks serene when playing the melody. And—”

“Dai-chan,” Inoo’s voice is stern. He tenses up, pulls away from the hug, stares at his drink. Daiki blinks in confusion, wondering if he did something wrong. But Inoo turns to him again, a smile on his face, albeit a little weak.

“Peppermint tastes great, doesn’t it?” thankfully Daiki dives right into the topic. Inoo thinks the boy must’ve said those things on impulse, or through instinct. But he understands know. Why Hikaru and Ryutaro and Yuto asks him what they look like. How they are. He remembers.

But he pulls away from this. _No. Not again_.

He’s going. Going, going, going.

He looks at Daiki, hates how he can describe the whole of him _perfectly._

Going, going, going.

_Gone._

* * *

 

Black  
_I tell my love to wreck it all_

Daiki jumps on his seat from surprise as two mugs of coffee suddenly appear in front of him, the glass hitting the wooden table quite hard, he was actually shocked they didn’t break.

“Coffee of the day, Dai-chan,” Inoo says with a smile so fake, it actually looks real. And scary. Really scary. “ _Enjoy_ ,” the older says through gritted teeth and really, Daiki is so confused.

“Okay?” he takes a sip without looking at the contents, face grimacing when a bitter taste hits his tongue. “Is this?”

“ _Black_. Like my soul,”

“Sure it is,” Daiki wants to reach for the sugar, but Inoo kept it far away, purposely depriving him of sweetness. “Are you okay?”

“Valetines is such a stupid holiday,” Inoo apparently doesn’t have a filter today, “It sucks and I hate it and I just want this stupid day to end already, to be honest.”

“Did something happen?”

Inoo’s mind flashes to the incident all those years ago, on Valentines day of all days, and he regrets going to work today. And getting up from bed. And waking up at all, actually. Stupid holiday.

“I’d rather not talk about it, Dai-chan,”

Daiki sighs, “Like you’d rather not talk about a lot of things.”

Maybe because he was on edge, but Inoo didn’t like the way Daiki said those words, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It’s not supposed to mean anything,”

“Yea, _sure_ it isn’t,”

“Okay fine,” and maybe Daiki was on edge too, “You still haven’t answered my question from before. Both questions, actually.”

“Really? Are we really doing this right now?”

“You were _insisting_ ,”

And Inoo rarely gets frustrated, especially towards Daiki, but he has already had enough of the flashbacks and bad memories and Daiki doesn’t need to add to the perfect equation to ruin his mood.

“It doesn’t _concern_ you,”

“It does if it bothers you enough. Don’t you understand that people care about you?” Daiki has a point, and Inoo hates that he has a point, because he was being emotionally drained and he doesn’t want this. “You can talk to me, Inoo-chan.”

But Inoo just stands up. Doesn’t say a word, a blank expression on his face. He doesn’t want people caring about him. He doesn’t want people making him feel good and nice and _happy_ because he knows where that end up, and frankly, he doesn’t want to go there again. To feel that again.

To feel so broken that you don’t know if you’ll ever be whole again.

Inoo worked hard to piece himself back together.

But when he met Daiki he _knew_. Just how much this boy could break his heart.

_No._

“I can’t do this anymore,”

And when he walks away, Daiki lets those five words swim through his thoughts, each letter piercing his heart until he was left with nothing.

“You and me both,”

* * *

 

Green Tea Crème Frappuccino  
_Then who the hell was I?_

Daiki’s only reason for returning to the café was to apologize, then to walk away. What he didn’t expect was a drink greeting him the moment he enters, Yabu handing him a beverage that was incredibly cold and bright green.

“He made it,” the older boy tells him, Daiki knowing full well just who _he_ was, “He’s not around today. But he said you were going to come. Said he had a feeling.”

Yabu smiles at him, then walks away to tend to the other customers.

Daiki notices a note attached to cup, reads it in Inoo’s voice.

_Dai-chan._

_Daiki._

_I’m sorry. I don’t know how to tell you but you deserve so much more than me._

_You perfectly described what I looked like, inside and out, and I knew what that meant. And everything that came with it._

_But I don’t know how to deal with things like this. I did before. I don’t anymore._

_I hope you don’t hate me. But I don’t know if I can see you yet. And I don’t know if I can ever tell you what happened. It broke me too much, and I don’t want to be broken again. Never again._

_You are the single most amazing person I have ever met. And like I said, you deserve so much better than a broken boy with too many secrets. Find someone who’s worthy of you. But it’s all for you to decide, really._

_I still want you to know though:_

_I’m wholly yours. I’ll always be._

_Inoo Kei._

Daiki sips on his drink. Too sweet.

And he lets the winter thaw out as spring makes its way through, hopeful for a new beginning, thinking of the boy that deserves every single inch of him and more.

* * *

 

Cherry Blossom Frappuccino  
_And in the morning I’ll be with you  
But it’ll be a different kind_

He was there in his usual seat, frustrated at yet another project that was due god knows when. Daiki slams his head against the table, half from frustration caused by paragraphs and sentences and stupid projects, half from him deciding to actually go here for some sort of goddamn reason.

He hasn’t returned since that day. Since the letter. Since the fight.

But his feet drew him here, and this was the only place he knew where he could actually relax and feel comfortable and everything was going wrong and—

Pink. He sees pink. In a cup. With whipped cream on top and it already looks like it’s going to be the best tasting thing he has ever had the chance to taste.

“Short,” a voice says out loud. A voice he’s all too familiar with. A voice he knows too well, recognizes without even looking.

There he was. Grabs a chair beside him this time, instead of across, sitting comfortable as he sips on an equally as pink drink.

“You’re quite short, aren’t you?” Inoo says casually, and at first Daiki is confused.

“What?” he plucks up the courage to say, even though his throat almost closed up and his tongue almost dries because fuck everything else, they were talking. Again. Like all the shit that happened didn’t even happen.

“And you have chubby cheeks,” Inoo continues, and he gets it. Daiki _finally_ gets it now.

“Black ruffled hair, although there was time you died it brown. On the verge of orange, if you ask me. Or it actually _was_ orange already. You cut it short this time though,”

Daiki reaches for the ends of his hair, on the back of his head, suddenly feeling so many things all at once.

“Medium build,” Inoo keeps going, Daiki noticing his tone getting more and more serious.

“Happy-go-lucky personality. Like nothing can ever phase you. Extremely optimistic. _Loud_. Always there to save some from awkward conversation. Eyes that shine brighter than the stupid sun. Smile just as bright, if not more. A laugh that can make sunflowers weep,” Inoo smiles genuinely, “Cute nose.”

The older boy takes a deep breath.

“Lips,” he says, casting his eyes down, “I just really like the way your lips look. Forgive me for being incredibly poetic.”

“Or corny,” Daiki laughs.

“Same thing,”

And that’s when it hits him. That he is that. Perfect in Inoo’s point of view. Exactly what he looks like, from head to toe, all aspects of his personality, him and _only_ him all throughout. Inside and outside. And Daiki _knows_ what that means.

“Why’d you run away?” Daiki couldn’t help but ask.

Inoo doesn’t look bitter this time. Or afraid. Instead, he sips on his Sakura drink again, soft smile on his face.

“I was scared,”

“I scared you?”

“Not you,” Inoo laughs, because really, who’d get scared of Arioka Daiki, “The thought of losing you, though? Terrified me.”

Daiki’s heart breaks into a million pieces, with only Inoo’s smile putting it back together.

“I’m not an easy person to deal with, Dai-chan,”

Daiki looks to his side, suddenly reaching a hand out, no matter how awkward the position was, places it on Inoo’s cheek and just honestly and plainly goes for it.

The older boy’s lips were far softer than what he expected. But the kiss electrified him: like a _finally_ of some kind, telling him that this was what he was waiting for the whole time and it was damn well worth it, no matter how long it had took.

Inoo leans into the kiss, pulling Daiki in, letting the taste of sakura pass through lips that fit so perfectly well together, he thought it was unreal. Daiki makes a grab for the front of his uniform, somehow craving more. More connection, more feeling, more _Inoo_. And he responds with just as much vigor, if not more.

After a while, Daiki pulls back, suddenly feeling breathless. Inoo keeps their foreheads stuck together, his eyes still closed, smile the widest Daiki has ever seen.

“I’m sorry it took me so long,” he says in a whisper. Daiki’s heart stops.

“It’s okay,”

“Dai-chan?”

“Mmm?”

Inoo takes a deep breath, slowly opening his eyes.

“I love you,”

He waits for a response, heart breaking inch by inch for every second that Daiki doesn’t say a thing. Then the younger boy grabs him again, crashes their lips together for another kiss, and honestly, Inoo is satisfied with that, knowing what it meant.

 _I love you too_.

And the sakura trees bloom with the awakening of spring.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed reading!


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